A few things that I've learned about growing in coco with a drip systm DTW

[OptimusPrime]

Cheers HGO thx for the great idea for the tray, I guess ill opt for that one coz I have some material and i dont need to spend lots of money.

About the dripper question I ran a test today and with 2 drippers the water flow is about 0.8L in 120 seconds. is that enought?
I want to run 6 plants, 12 drippers with that pump (1000L / hr ) is that ok?

Hey OptimusPrime, go get yourself some courgated PVC or tin, the same stuff that is used for roofing. It's a great subsituate for a tray and might be superior. Here's the stuff that I'm talking about...

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You can also get PVC guttering and build yourself an effective waste system. I have a friend using this and it's working great for him, here's what his looks like with the guttering installed...

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Peace,
HGO

 

[ChunkaBud420]

kinda but hes right if your running 5 gal coco its just way to much medium and you will never need that much. Also your roots will take alot longer to take hold and watering to often to soon is forsure death of the plant due to over watering....

I just start low with the feed with coco then just build it up slowly. Noticed great results,just make sure you get good run off ta clear the salt build up.

 

[ChunkaBud420]

Just about to start growing without veg time, going ta put them straight into flower any advice on this would be welcome. ?

 

[ozzieAI]

biggest issue i have with dtw coco is the plants growing too BIG too QUICKLY...oh the horror...

 

[noyd666]

lol yer ozzie like there 3 feet now and 2 foot would be better .real pisser.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

Just about to start growing without veg time, going ta put them straight into flower any advice on this would be welcome. ?

What do you want to know?

 

[ozzieAI]

lol yer ozzie like there 3 feet now and 2 foot would be better .real pisser.

i have plants in veg that are now topped 4 times and i still have 3 weeks to go before i can move them into the flower room...

each time i cut them i take a heap off and a week later they are growing back into the light....will have to take cuttings later to reduce veg time...the flowering plants have more head space for all those BIG frosty colas....

 

[oldmanmoore]

I don't know if anyone can help but I'm using one dripper per 6.5l pot. I'm half way through flower and feeding three times a day until runoff.

Looking at my roots though- I have a really thick, white mass in the half where the dripper is but the other is pretty sparse. Could this be over or under watering or simply that the dripper isn't supply the full pot

Cheers for any help

 

[lr3]

I'm thinking about getting either a 3'x3' or 4'x4' flood tray. I'm trying to determine what size pots and how many for each size tray. The girls will be grown in a 5'x5' Gorilla grow tent.
I normally grow 9 plants in 3 gallon pots in that space hand watering coco.

Also, does anyone know of a good way to quiet a pump (water pump) and air stones? I run it at night so the noise would be an issue.

Thanks.

 

[xxxstr8edgexxx]

I'm thinking about getting either a 3'x3' or 4'x4' flood tray. I'm trying to determine what size pots and how many for each size tray. The girls will be grown in a 5'x5' Gorilla grow tent.
I normally grow 9 plants in 3 gallon pots in that space hand watering coco.

Also, does anyone know of a good way to quiet a pump (water pump) and air stones? I run it at night so the noise would be an issue.

Thanks.

i hang every thing that vibrates from bungees. a pump in a tank could be hung and let to dangle at just the right depth but ive never tried it on my water pump and also rubber mats for reducing standing stress could be put under the rez. i hang my air stone pumps though and it reduces noise quite a bit. all my exhaust fans are hung from bungees and i attatch ducting after they are in place. you could even hang a dehue if you mounted hooks to it.
in a addition you could build a box lines inside with foam to put aroud fans etc.
hope this helps

 

[inthefire]

Great info want to try coco again
thanks Hgo

 

[lr3]

i hang every thing that vibrates from bungees. a pump in a tank could be hung and let to dangle at just the right depth but ive never tried it on my water pump and also rubber mats for reducing standing stress could be put under the rez. i hang my air stone pumps though and it reduces noise quite a bit. all my exhaust fans are hung from bungees and i attach ducting after they are in place. you could even hang a dehue if you mounted hooks to it.
in a addition you could build a box lines inside with foam to put around fans etc.
hope this helps

thanks. i already hang my fans & inline fans by bungies, so good idea to apply it to the air pump. Seems like the bubbles cause vibration that gets transferred thru the water to the container. With a 5 gallon bucket, the bucket seems to act like a speaker cone and amplify the sound. i'll try to use rubber mats under the reservoir as well. may try using some additional foam to insulate the reservoir and reduce the noise level further.

 

[MIMedHead]

HGO is the man. here is some root porn for you buddy. I use Black Hole Drippers multiple feedings a day, 7in Hydrofarm square pots filled with 80%coco 20% hydroton, and thin layer of hydroton on bottom for drainage.

 

[Cloneman]

I don't know if anyone can help but I'm using one dripper per 6.5l pot. I'm half way through flower and feeding three times a day until runoff.

Looking at my roots though- I have a really thick, white mass in the half where the dripper is but the other is pretty sparse. Could this be over or under watering or simply that the dripper isn't supply the full pot

Cheers for any help

Hi mate,
I don't use drippers. From the supply tube I use a tee piece, with 2 little lengths of tube, creating a bigger tee held down with a stake, feeding both sides of the pot (open ended). Maybe you could use your drippers to hold down the Tees.
Just for info, I use pipe clamp A (well cheap) http://www.lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk/product.asp?src=BGWebsite&pf_id=NET23&name=stake&sfile=1&jump=0

Also I always feed by hand at first, soaking the pot and then start with the AutoTees (keeping them soaked), that way you don't get any dry spots.

Good luck

 

[merkaba]

Are you guys dripping in veg? I have been hand watering in veg with 1 gallon pots. Takes about 3 wks to get them 18" tall. Curious if I could get better root growth with a drip system for veg as well. Say, transplant clones, hand water for a week, then put on a 2 times a day drip? Thoughts?

 

[merkaba]

Also, what ppm/ec are you guys using? Should I be using a lower ppm vs hand watering? In flower I am around 1300-1800ppm (by the end) watering 3-5 times a day, I feel like I read with drip systems you can cut your ppm waaaaay back. True?

 

[coxnox]

Hi,

i drip in veg as soon as the root have shown under the pots, and in flower i never go higher than 1.2 EC(with 0.6 tap water so 0.6 of nutes) so 600ppm i guess ?

 

[Bobbo4200]

 

[BenTec]

Hello guys, first of all sorry in advance for any linguistic mistakes I'll maybe make, English isn't my native language. I also apologize for any noobish questions, so far I only have experience in soil. Now I plan to switch to coco, to be more accurate dtw with drippers and multiple watering per day.

I've read all 28 pages in this thread and tried to gather a basic knowledge about the materiel (You guys are awesome, thanks for the thread), but to be on the secure site not to make mistakes I first would like to ask you guys first if everything is correct this way.

First of all I have a Homebox XL (120x120x200cm) and ~720W LED Panels (Wanted to give LED a try, maybe going to switch to HPS in later grows).

I plan to have 9 Pure Power Plants, each in a 3,8L (1 Gallon) Smart Pot. I get my clones from a friend in a plastic cup ~0,25L in size, is it okay to transplant them straight into the Smart Pots or should i put them into 1,7L pots first? Or should i just go with normal 7L pots I still have laying around instead of the smart pots?

Next thing I need is a table to put the pots onto. You need to know that I am... lets not say I am horrible at doing things myself but I am very unsecure and also lazy, so I found this:

http://www.growtool.net/uploads/pics/growrack12_13.jpg
http://www.growtool.net/uploads/pics/growrack12_14.jpg

Table and rack together for 160€, what do you think of these?

How big should the tanks for the water and for the drain be? 100L and 50L?

Can I put the tank with the nutrient solution under the table, next to the one for the drain, or should I put it outside of the homebox with a tube going inside? (I normaly have around 25°C in the Homebox)

Do I have to empty the drain tank each day or is it okay to empty it every two or three days? (In case it's not full until than of course ^^)

A 1000L per hour aquarium pump will do the job or does it need to be stronger?

How hard is it to set up the tubes and drippers? (as I said I am a pretty unsecure feeling person) Do you have any pressure control valves to make each plant get the same amount of water?

I plan to use Canna Coco A+B, Drip Clean and PK 13/14.
Is it okay to put in Canna A and B, (for the last weeks PK 13/14), then adjust the PH and then add drip clean, or should I first add drip clean and then adjust the PH?

After transplanting the clones I should handwater, measuring the weight after watering and water again when it's only half the weight left.
Once the roots reach the buttom I start with the drippers, feeding 3 times per day, each time until about 20% drain is reached, this should take about 1-2mins, depening on the system.
At day 21 of flowering I start watering them 5 times per day.

PH to keep at:
Veg - day 21 flower: 5.8-6.0
After the 21 first flower day: 6.0-6.2

EC - Unsure about that, varries from person to person, some say an EC of around 0,7, others go up to 1,4 (looking at you coxnox, thanks for the growreport, wish you would had finished it, was very informing with the accurate PH and EC measurments )

During hand watering EC ~ ???
Veg to 21 flower EC ~ ???
After day 21 of flowering EC ~ ???
(HGO said he drops the EC slightly after day 21 but from what to what? I am going to use tap water by the way)

Wow now that I wrote all that down it looks a lot more than I expected it to be, wanted to put everything into one post before buying the equipment, made the post pretty long, sorry guys :s

Hope the long post is not scaring anyone away from this great thread and sorry if there are dumb questions aswell... ;/

 

[GrowingHappynes]

Hey guys I'd like to share my idea of how I built my DTW system for my plants. I can move my plants anywhere in my room and still have drainage go to 1 bucket all gravity fed.

With 3 feedings a day the waste drainage builds up quickly. So you need a way for the plants to sit in 1 place without ever being moved and catch runoff for multiple plants. My solution to this? A DIY table easily built in a couple hours. It's basically a table frame, with wire mesh with 1/4 holes that the plants sit on. My table is 18" tall (enough to allow 5gAl bucket underneath.) On the bottom side of my table I took black polyvinyl plastic and stapled it to the bottom of my table (make sure it's tight on all sides). Next cut a hole in the very center of the plastic, take a Ernie ball jar lid (the screw on ring part) and wedge it between the table and the plastic. What this has done is made the plastic slope towards your center hole in the plastic. When the runoff drops out the bottom of the pots on to the plastic, the slope of the plastic makes the water run down to your hole cut In the plastic. Now place a 5 gal bucket under the hole and viola! You now have an effective way to catch waste water 24/7!! The black plastic also helps to shade under your table. This allows me to keep my res away from my grow room lights to keep things from growing. I also store all my nutrients and spare water under there. It's a cool dark place to keep things out of the light!

In the pics you can see how my plants sit on the screen and above the plastic. Make sure you make the plastic tight so it with have enough tension between the lid and the table to make the plastic tight and slope down towards your drain hole. All you have to do is empty the bucket when you feel necessary.